Riders of Kairo
by DJ3K
Summary: Comet Herring, a Viking girl from a faraway land, one day flies into Berk with her crew, explaining to Hiccup that her land has been destroyed by a disastrous terror no one has ever heard of before. She possesses the legendary Sun Dragon, Asterion, which is the only dragon that can save Berk when the same disaster that destroyed her home strikes Berk. :D
1. Chapter 1: Visitors

As Hiccup swung onto Toothless's back, he squinted up in the sun, seeing seven new shapes gliding towards Berk in the sky. As they came closer, he saw that they were dragon riders, but he had never seen any dragon species like these before. The rider on the first dragon held up a white flag as he spiralled towards Hiccup. The sign of peace. He was signalling that they had come in peace, and so would prefer it if they were not attacked. The rider then landed lightly on the grass, and Hiccup realised it was a girl. She had shoulder-length straight red hair, big blue eyes and rosy pink lips stretched into a smile. She was wearing a golden top with a beige fur collar that covered her neck. She had a short white skirt decorated with glinting sapphires, with a dagger in her belt and beige boots matching her fur collar. A gold circlet emblazoned with a beautiful sapphire crowned her red hair, with a tuft of hair falling across her face and covering one blue eye. She reminded Hiccup of Astrid, but prettier and not as serious. Her dragon resembled Toothless almost exactly, but it was pure white, with soft fur covering its scales. It had big bat like wings gilded in gold from inside and long, fox ears. It had big liquor gold eyes, and tiny horns on its head and cheeks. Its back was rigged with gold horns, and its tail looked like Toothless's, but was curved with gold horns like its back, and the edges were tinted with gold. In short, when Hiccup looked at the dragon, he saw the symbol of light and gold.

The girl leapt nimbly off the dragon and studied Toothless, who was sniffing at her dragon. They were exactly the same size, and so seemed like twins in white and black. "Interesting. I've never seen this kind before." She muttered under her breath. Then she seemed to notice Hiccup. "Oh…um...hi" she said, blushing, "I'm Comet, and this my dragon, Asterion. You are -?" Hiccup scratched his head, wondering where this strange girl had come from. From the corner of his eye, he saw Astrid and Fishlegs emerge from the forest with their dragons, holding huge barrels of fish from the lakes. Astrid sensed something was wrong right away, and she broke out running towards Hiccup, with Fishlegs struggling to keep up. Comet did not seem to see them. "Hi…uh, I'm Hiccup, and this is Toothless. I, um, I just wanted to know, where exactly did you come from?" The girl's face fell. She gave a piercing whistle, and the rest of her crew flew down.

There was a long necked black dragon with polished white fangs and horns, with a furry neck, feet and tail, upon which two girls were sitting. The one in front was kind of tall, with a serene look on her face. She had long curly black hair, deep brown eyes and was wearing a black fur top with a grey skirt, white leggings and black fur boots. The one sitting behind her was slightly plump, with wavy coffee coloured hair left open over one shoulder and playful grey eyes beneath horn-rimmed glasses that rested on the bridge of her nose. She was wearing a brown blouse with long white sleeves, a long white skirt that fell a few cm below her knees, and her boots were not fur boots like the others, but tight fawn coloured leather boots with pointed edges. The next dragon that landed resembled Barf and Belch, as it had two heads. It was pale blue colour, with a soft yellow underbelly, a thin coat of fur and spikes on its heads, tail and legs. On it sat two boys, obviously twins, with long black hair in a short ponytail, furry brown vests on top of long beige tops with fluffed collars, skinny brown trousers and tall fur boots. One of them had a peg leg, and the other a hook hand. Two huge carts pulled by a hundred or so small, strong dragons with huge wings descended, overflowing with food, luggage, any kind of supplies. Men sat at the reigns of each cart, leading the dragons toward the ground. The last shape was a big, regal bronze coloured dragon with a plated underbelly and piercing yellow eyes. On it sat a tall man with shaggy blonde hair, and behind him was a man and a woman both wearing black and brown woollen clothes, with curly hair.

Astrid and Fishlegs had reached them by now, and were frowning at the newcomers. "Who? What in the – where?" Astrid spluttered, panting. Comet sighed. "Let me introduce you to our crew – I'm Comet, and this is Asterion. The girl in black is Iva, and the girl behind her is her sister, Faun, who is a year younger. The black dragon is Flightmare, but you can call her Fly, and she belongs to Iva. Faun lost her dragon in, er, an _accident,_ and we were hoping you could give her a new dragon at Berk." "Ooh!" Fishlegs said "We do have a few dragons…" "Thanks!" comet said, smiling at Fishlegs. "Anyway, two heads of that dragon over there are Thunder and Lightning, and that-" she pointed at the hook handed guy "-is Linus, and the other one, the guy with the peg leg, is Logan. Those dragons with the big wings are Batterdrums, and that man on the regal dragon is my father, Ankh, and behind him are Iva and Faun's parents, Vesta and Ingot, and the regal dragon is Blaze. The two men at the reigns are Tan and Bron. We beg for Berk's protection and shelter, and we hope you will accept us as your townsfolk. We have nowhere else to live, so please let us live here." There was silence. Hiccup finally said, "Ok, Comet, you can stay here with us. I will take you to my home, so you can meet my mother. I'll also show you around Berk. Astrid, please take Iva and Faun to get a new dragon for Faun, and Fishlegs, you, Snotlout and the Twins take the dragons in and show Comet's dad, Vesta, Ingot, Tan and Bron to the huts. Also, sort out the supplies. Hurry!" "Fine, Chief." Astrid grumbled. She eyed Comet suspiciously and took Iva and faun and walked off. Fishlegs hurried off too. Hiccup smiled at Comet. "Well, since it's only the two of us, I would like to take you to the place where I first met Toothless…"

Some time, later, Comet, Hiccup, Asterion and Toothless arrived at a beautiful cove in the forest. Toothless took Asterion on an aerial tour of Berk, while Comet and Hiccup sat at the edge of the lake. Comet picked up pretty stones from the water and twirled them between her fingers before tossing them back in. Hiccup said, "so…..Comet, I know you haven't told me the full story yet. Where are you from? How did you come here? _Why_ did you come here? What happened?" He was full of curiosity. Comet sighed. "It's a loooooong story…" Hiccup grinned. "I like loooooong stories!"


	2. Chapter 2: Comet's Story (Part 1)

**A/N- I'm gonna write this chapter as Comet's story told to Hiccup, so the whole chapter is set in the past describing what happened to her home…. Hope u guys like it! XD**

 **It's very long, so take a break, grab a snack and enjoy yourselves!**

 **PS: I have only seen the 1** **st** **and 2** **nd** **movies of HTTYD, so I don't know all the people/dragons they meet in the TV shows as I have not seen them.**

 **Sorry for not updating for soooo long, too!**

 **(Disclaimer: This movie and its original characters DO NOT belong to me.)**

 **Also, this is my first** _ **official**_ **fanfic. I hope it's not really bad.**

 **Thanks WeSlowForNoOne for helping me! Go check out her story Eyes Open Wide.**

 _ **Comet's story**_

' _I come from a faraway land in the north, called Kairo (pronounced KAAy-EEro). It's about as big as Berk, but it's much colder there, and the mountains are all topped with ice, which is why our dragons all have natural fur over their scales, to keep them warm. The history of our island is very similar to the one of Berk's._

 _Once, long ago, we hated dragons, but everything changed when I met Asterion. In our land, it was freezing at night, and so dragons attacked and stole all our valuables and food during sunset or at noon, the perfect time for Sun dragons to blend in with the clouds and the golden sky. The Sun Dragon was the deadliest dragon at that time, because no one saw it, and it could literally travel at the speed of light if it was trained and powerful._

 _The dragons would fly off with valuables and tools, and sometimes our food, and that's why Kairo had been at war against dragons for so long._

 _One day, I was determined to capture this Sun Dragon and prove to my mother that I was worthy of being a true Viking and the heir to the chief's post, because in our land, it is a custom to prove yourself worthy by doing a brave act before receiving any titles or honours._

 _I prided myself for being skilled with traps, contraptions and mechanisms, and of course, the art of archery, so one day, during the dragon attack, I sneaked out of the house and focused my contraption – a net threaded with mud boulders attached to a crossbow-cannon – at the sky, where the Sun Dragon flew. I could almost trace its path, as it zipped around the sky blasting the Viking towers with its fire. I let loose my grip on the crossbow-cannon, and saw a netted white figure sail across the sky in a graceful descent, giving out a cry of pain. My net had gripped it by its head and horns.'_

At this point, Hiccup said, "I know this sounds really strange, but this is almost _exactly_ what happened to me and Toothless. Except that it was night then, and my net caught him on the tail."

Comet nodded gravely. "Like I said earlier, the history of our land is very similar to that of Berk's."

' _At night, while the rest of the town slept, I crept to where the dragon had landed, in Stalactite Cove. I was nervous, and carried my bow with me to slay the beast. In the night, the dragon gave off a blinding gold glow and the white scales shone. It was impossible not to notice._

 _But when I was about to strike, I noticed something strange. The dragon's eyes were wide open, frightened, almost. It then closed them again, prepared to die. A single tear of pure gold rolled down the dragon's cheek and landed in the icy soil. A plant sprung up from the ground immediately, and blossomed with white flowers and bore gold apples before my eyes._

 _I watched, fascinated. "Surely this cannot be an evil beast," I thought to myself, for which plant would grow from the tears of evil? This was just a poor, frightened animal, that seemed to be forced to steal gold and money from the Vikings. I knew there was nothing a dragon could do with all this gold and jewellery, and there was something fishy going on. I had to find out what._

 _A sudden movement brought me out of my thoughts, and I saw that the net was digging into the dragon's leg scales, drawing out blood._ Golden _blood. I quickly brought out a small dart from my satchel. A tranquilizer dart. I drew my bow and fired it at the dragon's tough hide. As soon as the dart punctured through the glinting dagger-like scales, the dragon fell into silence, unconscious. I had only an hour or half before it woke again. Fortunately, I'm skilled enough with herbs and medicines to know what to do. Gathering a few leaves of the mystical herb, Diakonne, I crushed it and added a bit of an elixir we all carry until it was sufficiently pasty. I cut the tough mesh bonds of the rope and gently wiped the blood off the dragon's legs with a soft cloth. Then I applied the paste on the wounds, and stepped back the see the magic of my medicine. A glowing green liquid essence spilled out of the paste and weaved itself around the cuts. The cuts immediately closed up, as if they were never there - '_

"Wow, I really need to get some of that paste! Though I don't think the – the dai – whatsitsname plant grows in Berk." Hiccup interrupted again.

Comet sighed and handed Hiccup a small glass vial filled with a clear liquid elixir and a couple of thin, long seeds wrapped in a pale maple leaf. "Diakonne seeds," she said.

' _\- but there was still, however, a pale scar. It's still there, if you look closely. Just as I had finished, the dragon groaned and turned over. The effect of the tranquilizer had worn away. The dragon rose up to its full height and roared loudly in my face. Then it flew off, into the dark, tall Frostpine forest. I heard many other dragons screeching and chittering between the trees, so I quickly ran back home before I was attacked._

 _The next day, I realised that I had left my crossbow in Stalactite Cove last night and immediately rushed back, hoping that the dragon had left. When I reached, there were no signs of the dragon, so I began hunting for my bow. I found it half-buried in the ice under a rocky ledge._

 _I heard a sudden screech and a dragon leapt from above me and literally_ attacked _the frost spread over the lake. Usually, a dragon's sharp nail's go through the hard surface of ice, but this time…nothing happened, and the dragon tumbled onto the ice._

 _It took me a few moments to realise that it was the same Sun Dragon from yesterday night. After observing closely, I realised that my net had sawn off the poor creatures claws, and thus it couldn't even pierce through the ice. It had probably gone without any food the whole night, as fish is dragons' prime cuisine._

" _So fish is all you want, huh, girl?" I said, stepping out from the beneath the ledge. The dragon hissed and leapt backwards. "I'm not going to hurt you…" I carefully edged over to the lake and pulling out a silver blade, pierced it into the hard ice. It cracked immediately and icy cold water splashed out, soaking me from head to toe. The dragon growled. "You don't like knives, huh?" It was my favourite hunting knife, but I tossed it into the dark depths of the Frostpine Forest. The dragon watched it sail through the morning sky and then, cocking its head, looked at me. I smiled and made the hole in the ice bigger for my hand and grabbed the nearest fish, tossing it onto the icy surface. The dragon gobbled it up and stuck both its paws in, hoping for more – '_

"Comet?" Hiccup said.

"Yes?"

"I know I said I like long stories, but can you make it a little brief? It's been an hour since you started already. You don't really need to empathize on everything…"

"I'll try to make it short" Comet sighed.

 _We spent the whole day fishing, it was almost like we were friends, but if I came too close the dragon, she would hiss and move away. Every day, I would bring her buckets of fish, and finally she allowed me to ride her. It was so amazing… At the arena, I realised that I could control the dragons in specific ways that did not harm them, like rubbing them under the neck or feeding them a Frostpine (a kind of fruit from Frostpine trees that makes dragon act like your pet dog) or showing them a striped fish. I won in every round, and was happy, until my friends – Iva, Faun, Linus and Logan – discovered my dragon. My mother heard about it, and she captured Asterion and took her with her on a voyage and forced her to guide the crew to where all the gold had been taken to. There was a huge secret laboratory in the midst of Mount Eda, a volcano, where an evil magician,_ _Vándar,_ _was forcing the dragons to bring him tools and valuables from all over the world so that he could create an ultimate dragon that would be the tool to ruling the world. Meanwhile, I managed to explain to my friends how gentle and loving dragons actually are, and each of them chose a dragon each. I rode with Iva, my best friend, on Flightmare. We managed to trace the path of the ship, and reached just in time. While my friends battled the magician's army of iron, I followed him through his laboratory and was able to disrupt his plans, but while fighting he pushed me into the depths of the volcano's heart, where I would fall to my death in the spell of darkness_ _Vándar had cursed the place with. That's when I realised Asterion's power: The power of the Sun. It was his light that won over Vándar's darkness and took me to safety. I was badly affected by the spell and injured, but I was alive, thanks to Asterion. I was able to explain_ _to my mother the true meaning of dragons, and our island was turned into a dragon heaven. Each person had their own dragon, and dragon-riding even became a sport for my friends and I.'_

"Come, let's go home. My story is only half-way done, and it's already rather dark." Comet mounted Asterion.

Hiccup stood for a while in thought, speechless.

Comet reached over and shook him. "Hiccup. _Hiccup. HICCUP!"_ He jumped and got onto Toothless. Both dragons leapt into the sky.

That night, two dragons, white and black, yin and yang, soared past the moon into a night as black as….. well, _night._

\- _END OF PART 1_ -


	3. Chapter 3: (Part 2) and the Grand Tour

**A/N: Here is Part 2 of the previous chapter…. Sorry if I kept you waiting at the cliff hanger X3…. Though it wasn't much of a cliffhanger.**

 **Disclaimer: Neither HTTYD nor its ORIGNAL characters belong to me. (But Comet does!)**

Hiccup groaned and stretched his arms. Daylight streamed in through an open window. He'd had another nightmare, reliving his father's death. He blinked a few times, only to find his mother's face hovering over him, only a few inches away. He yelped and dove under the covers.

"Hiccup, it's only me."

"Mom, why so early?"

"For heaven's sake, it's almost _9:00!_ And Comet has been waiting since an hour, saying she has to tell you some sort of important…story….?"

"Who? Coma-whaaa?"

" _Comet!_ The girl who arrived yesterday! Are you asleep? Hiccup? HICCUP! GET UP NOW!"

Hiccup groaned again, thinking, but his brain, still half-asleep, was having a tough time processing all this information. Comet…Who was she? Then suddenly his memories came rushing back, and he jolted up and out of bed.

"Oh, _that_ Comet! The pretty redhead one! Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

He made for the door, but his mother grabbed him by his sleeve.

" _Hiccup!_ You're wearing your _pyjamas!_ What will she think?

"Oh, right….. Need to get dressed….."

 **In 15 minutes….**

Hiccup, clad in his riding armour, stuffed another spoon of fish salad into his already-full mouth. At the sound of the wooden stairs creaking, he finally turned away from his half-eaten breakfast, only to see Comet, (looking as stunning as yesterday) wearing an off-shoulder spaghetti-sleeved turquoise top that was wrapped around her torso top and a short, black, gold – studded skirt with her beige furry boots and a pair of fishnets on her legs. Her loose hair had a few feather-twined braids in it and the same gold circlet she had worn yesterday, with a single drop of turquoise dangling from it.

Asterion bounded after her, her half-shaven claws making a screeching squeal as they scratched the wooden boards.

"Oh. You're awake! Let's go." Comet cocked her head.

"Yeah! I-I mean, of course!" Hiccup said, laughing nervously.

He got up, spilling the salad all over himself.

"Sigh. Guess I gotta taken another bath."

-xxx-

Hiccup and Comet mounted both their dragons and soared up into the blue sky blanketed with soft cumulus clouds.

Comet tucked a loose strand of hair whipping her face behind a ear. "Wasn't there supposed to be some grand tour today?"

"Yeah, later."

"Can we finish it now, and then find some comfy little place where I can tell you the rest of my story?"

Hiccup's heart raced at the word 'comfy'. _Slow down,_ he told himself _, she probably only means the cove…_

"Well, actually, Fishlegs will be giving the tour, and he isn't up yet, so – "

" – we can finish the story, and then go for the tour once Fishlegs is up, right?"

"Yeah…." It kind of freaked Hiccup out that Comet could already complete his sentences when he had only met her yesterday, but he kind of liked it, anyway.

-xxx-

A few minutes later, they were both sitting by the cove, Comet lying down with her head on a mossy rock, eating sardine-and-cheese-buns made by Valka. Both Toothless and Asterion were fishing in the water, desperately trying to avoid striped eels.

"Okay, where did I stop yesterday?"

Hiccup thought for a while. "Err…. The part where your land – Kairo – became a dragon haven?"

"Right! Well, let's begin again."

She finished the last bit of her bun and sat upright, her turquoise eyes filled the golden sands of time. Hiccup could almost picture what would happen next in her story in those eyes.

 _ **-Comet's Story (Part II) -**_

" _A couple of years passed. My friends and I had many small but interesting adventures – discovering new species of dragons (The Crannyback, the Gemstone, The Deathly Nightingale etc.), racing around the entire Kairo, exploring new lands around Kairo and many more things. We grew up into strong, young adults. There used to be a boy, called Foss (Water (lake, river) in Nordic). He was a great dragon-keeper, one of our best warriors. Caramel hair, blue eyes. He was my - "_

Hiccup clenched his teeth, waiting for her to say 'boyfriend' or maybe 'love'. He just KNEW he never stood a chance with Comet. *Sigh*

" _\- brother. Ever -"_

"Brother?!" Hiccup burst out, jumping a foot out of relief or surprise, he wasn't sure.

"Umm….yeah….? Foss _was_ my brother."

Hiccup could swear she saw a tear in her eyes.

"What happened to him?"

"Patience. Let me continue." She wiped the tear off, acting like nothing had happened.

' _Everyone loved him dearly, especially Iva. You must have noticed how cold and serious she is. Well, that wasn't how it was earlier. Foss was her joy, her hope, the light of her life. He made her laugh everyday, and basically lightened up everyone's mood. He didn't manage to survive in the war, though, like my mother….'_

She trailed off, looking like she was about to break down sobbing. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and looked back up, tears in her eyes.

Hiccup reached over and held her arm, sending a tingling shiver of excitement up his spine.

"Tell me what happened."

"I'm getting to it. Patience, grasshopper." She was trying to be funny, but there were no humour in her words, no smile on her face.

' _But there was one thing we did not know. We thought we had destroyed the magician's magic, his laboratory, maybe even the magician himself. We didn't think he would ever come back, but we were wrong. In all those years, he built his laboratory again, and started working on his experiment again, trying to rule the world, but he vowed to first attack us. And slowly things started to change. A strange mist spread everywhere, causing a horrible disease which we called 'The Crimson-mist' The sky slowly changed from blue to grey to charcoal black, even in the day. A purple-green inky poison that smelled like sulphur spread over the water in the ocean making it impossible to drink, or use for anything._

 _We had no clue what was coming our way, so it was so sudden when it happened..'_

"WHAT happened" Hiccup was getting frustrated.

Comet sighed. "I was just going to say exactly that, before you cut me off."

Hiccup scratched his head sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry. Hehe."

' _One morning, I woke up to a horrible sound. I looked out of my window, and I saw that the sea had turned black, and something huge, like a charcoal mountain was rising out of it. I could not see what it was, as it was shrouded in thick, gaseous mist, but there was something familiar – an evil, cackling laugh that rang through my ears. Vandar was back. There was a horrifying roar and it took me a second to realise that the mountain was alive. It reared its head back and crashed down onto the coast, making almost every single house and many people fall into the sea, or perish in the flames that poured out of its mouth._

 _I immediately rushed into battle with my friends, but it was too late. Half the population was already dead. We bravely surged forward, and in this process both Foss and the chief, my mother were taken. I was in shock, but I somehow managed to corner Vandar while Asterion bravely tried to defeat the mound of darkness. However, the black creature could control our dragons' souls, and Asterion lost the fight. Just as I was about to kill Vandar, the creature rose out of nowhere, about to kill me. I tried to focus on my job at hand, but then I saw something that has scarred me for months – the eyes._

 _The eyes of the creature. They were blinding white, yet deep into them, a horrifying inky orb of black and red whirled, and it was as if a million arms of fire and darkness were shooting out at me, crushing my mind. I wanted to scream, sit down, hold my head. I couldn't see straight anymore._

 _And in that minute of horror, the beast rose up to its full height, every single dragon clustered behind it, and dived straight into the heart of the already-scorched and barren Kairo. There was sickening crack and a lurch, and the entire city went up in flames, before breaking apart into pieces and sinking beneath the surface. Only Iva, Faun, Tan, Bron, Logan, Liam, my dad, Vesta and Ingot survived. We gathered whatever we could and flew off with as many dragons we could take, straight to Berk. We knew berk from our book of Dragon history, and though it was probably the safest place to be. Faun lost her dragon, Chestnut, a Mudrare, during the war.'_

"And that's my story."

Hiccup just watched her, speechless. "And I thought Berk went through a lot. You really must be tougher than you look."

"Hey!"

"Well, Fishlegs must be up, so let's go."

"Yeah, I guess."

They flew past the sparkling blue sea at a leisurely pace, their dragons' wings cutting through the water. Suddenly, on Hiccup's command, Toothless accelerated, pushing past Comet with such force that she fell into the sea. Hiccup swooped with laughter as a dripping wet Comet climbed back onto Asterion's back, spitting out seaweed.

As soon as they reached the coast, Comet leaped up and punched him in the gut.

"Owwwwww!"

"That's for being the pain that you are."

"Hey!"

Then Comet blushed.

"And this is to thank you for letting us stay here."

She leaned in and kissed him, though it was (probably) just a sisterly kiss on the cheek. Then she turned and ran towards her dragon, mounted, and leapt into the sky.

Hiccup stood there, his fingers on his cheek, speechless.

Finally, he said, "Wow…. Just… _Wow._ I could live with that."

Then he mounted Toothless and sped after Comet, shouting, "Hey! Comet! Wait for me!"

-xxx-

 _ **After the grand tour of Berk…**_

Comet lay down on the soft lush grass and faced the blue sky, wind whipping her hair into her face.

Astrid and Hiccup sat together, sharing a mug of cocoa and green-tinted algae marshmallows. Iva was gazing at the clouds, trying to ignore Snotlout, who had brought a bouquet of slightly-wilted white jasmines for her. Faun had chosen a lime green and yellow Gronckle (male) the day before, named Chestnut after her previous Mudrare, and was reading a dragon book with Fishlegs, who was explaining about Gronckle attacks and talents. Liam, Logan, Ruff and Tuff were all jabbering away at once, sitting by their dragons (heads, that is) who were examining each other closely. Stormfly and Asterion had become the best of friends, and were racing through the sky, with the Fly and Hookfang trailing behind. The two Gronckles were lazily rolling about in the sun, eating fish from yesterday.

It was another beautiful day.

Then Astrid said, "So, Comet, you know how to fight?"

"Yeah! Duh."

"Wanna practise?"

"Sure!"

The two got up, Astrid with her trusty battleaxe, and Comet with a long, narrow light-weight sword.

Hiccup wasn't so sure about this. Astrid was as good as fighting as he was with dragons. "Maybe you'll should go slow, like, don't hurt yourselves or each other."

"Of course I wouldn't hurt a friend. Especially a friend who is so good at fighting."

"How did you know I was good at fighting?" Astrid asked.

"Hiccup told me. He was all like, 'I'm so good with dragons, but Astrid is even better at fighting than me with dragons!'"

Astrid tried to glare at Hiccup, but she broke into a smile.

"Let's begin then!"

"Yeah, let's."

Astrid swung her battleaxe at Comet, who blocked and spun backwards. She thrust her sword forward, and when it was blocked, flipped it over and sliced it through the air at Astrid. Astrid had not been expecting the quick comeback, and even though she managed to step out of the way, she stumbled and fell. Immediately Comet jumped, a look of pure concern on her face. "I'm so sorry, oh my gosh, so sorry, so sorry…. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's resume."

In the next few minutes, Comet fought with true wonder, slicing, dicing, parrying, blocking, thrusting, flipping, spinning, somersaulting like a world-class gymnast-ninja.

By the end, Astrid had lost her battleaxe and was on the ground with Comet over her. She had lost the fight.

Comet immediately got up, helped her up and ran to retrieve the battleaxe. "I'm really sorry if I hurt you."

"No, I'm fine, I'm fine. You really are an amazing warrior, though." There was a look of great awe and respect on her face.

Comet smiled. "Thanks! I can teach you some tricks and tips if you want!"

"Sure!"

Hiccup watched them both chatting, and realised what a great pair they made. _Two amazing, beautiful warrior girls in my gang living in Berk?_ He thought. _Sweet!_


	4. Chapter 4: The Dragon Training Academy

**A/N: Hey, there's an update on what I said in the first chapter – I sat and watched almost** _ **all**_ **of the TV shows, so I know a lot more about the extra dragons and other characters. Now, I can't make Faun x Fishlegs, as Fishlegs x Heather exists, but they can be friends!**

Though the sun was starting to rise, the weather outside was still cold and grey. Comet's window was flecked with dewdrops, glistening like pearls. Her eyes flew open, and the surroundings registered immediately – she was in a large round room, with a thatched hay ceiling that held a lit chandelier, smooth wooden walls, a comfortable wooden bed with a mattress of sheepskin that she was sleeping on and the weaponry and other things that littered the place – a casket of arrows hung from the wall alongside a pegged bow, there was a plaque that held neatly arranged hammers and axes of varying sizes, a large cupboard made of bamboo stalks where she had kept her belongings, a wooden desk in one corner and a large wooden base on which Asterion was sleeping, and a tall ornate vase which held long swords with hilts carved like roses.

Huh? This scene seemed so familiar… Just like home….

Vague but familiar memories entered her mind, memories of warmth, comfort and most importantly, of _home._ This was here room, back in Kairo, where everyday the fireplace blazed with warm flames and Asterion curled up next to her, her soft snores soothing Comet.

But… how? Kairo – Kairo was destroyed…. Right? So where was she….?

A flash of memories suddenly hit her – coming to Berk, new people, a story, a tour, a fight and…. A kiss. On the cheek. Of course! She was in Hiccup's house, here in Berk, where Valka had given her a room on the highest storey of the building. Judging by the weather and position of the Sun, it was around 5:00 am. It was the time she naturally woke up in Kairo, and took Asterion out to train with her friends.

Comet scrambled out of bed and yanked off her nightgown, desperately searching the wardrobe for appropriate clothing. A golden dress with a white fur cape… no. A tank top made of ivory cloth with a papyrus skirt reaching her ankles… no. A long sleeved knotted turquoise top with black leggings and beige fur boots…. Yep. She slipped into the comfortable clothes, tied her straight red bangs black with an ivory coloured bandanna and crept downstairs, Asterion behind her. Once she slipped out of the door she mounted Asterion and flew to one of the cliffs overlooking the sea.

Time to train.

It was simple, really. Asterion was so connected to Comet that she didn't have to say what to do – she knew what was on Comet's mind. Leaping of the cliff, Asterion spiralled until just before the water, and then skimmed over the surface, spraying Comet with sea mist. Of course this was just the fun bit. The _serious_ part was about to begin.

First: The Climb and the Fall – Asterion zipped through the cold morning air and into the pouf of clouds above, which had turned a rosy red, symbolising sunrise. Then Comet let go, and they both fell, all the way to the ocean.

Second, The Twirls and Loops – Just before hitting the water, Asterion broke into flight, grabbing Comet in her claws and flipping her onto the saddle. She twirled into the air and then looped backwards like a rollercoaster, dipping and leaping. But, unlike on rollercoasters, Comet was not sick. She whooped with satisfaction and pleasure, patting Asterion affectionately.

Third, The Obstacles – the Cliffs here were so much like Kairo, it made Comet want to cry. Asterion easily dodged the smaller rocks and glided through the gaps and crevices in the big cliffs, twisted from side to side.

Fourth – Finally, _Speed_ – Comet tightened her grip on Asterion, which always meant 'Speed'. The fun part. Steering away from Berk, Asterion folded her wings and zipped through the air at a sonic pace, leaving a trail of sparking golden clouds behind them. The tip of her nose began to glow, and a her whole body was encased with gold. She flew through the now bright sky, except if anyone had looked, they would have seen nothing, maybe a streak of gold for a microsecond. Comet heard a supersonic boom behind her, and then nothing at all. This was fast. _This_ was _speed_. They were in fact travelling at the speed of sound, and though Comet felt as if her insides were going to fly out of her ears, she grinned stupidly, the corners of her mouth literally being pulled back. The wind was strong, and if they went a fraction of a microsecond slower, they probably would have been ripped out of the air and caused a major wind tornado (Happened before)

But Comet knew she had to break the speed now. Though Asterion constantly looped back to Berk, they were probably miles from there now. She leapt off the dragon, but the momentum was so great she flew for about 300 metres before tumbling into a fall. Asterion, too, stopped flying and fell, though they felt weightless. Once she had regained her control, Asterion swooped under Comet and she landed on her back.

They glided back slowly towards the cliffs. Though….. training wasn't over. There still one part left.

-xxx-

Astrid's blue eyes flew open and she jerked her head in the direction of the window. A sound had woken her up. A sound like a… boom? Yes, it was as if a conch the size of Berk had been blown through…. A boom that rolled through the island and rang in her ears. It was what, 6:00 am? The village would mostly be asleep right now. What had made that sound. There was nothing outside. Wait… something on the cliff. A flash. Gold? Her keen eyes caught a glance of a streak of sparkles darting from cliff to cliff, but so fast even _her_ mind could barely register. Then, suddenly, a figure appeared on one of them, though she wasn't sure the person looked. Her first thought was _Rogue Dragon Rider?_ Then she caught a glimpse of red. Blood….? Oh no. _Oh_ no. She had to get Hiccup. It couldn't really be any villagers, as the town was asleep at this point, and whatever that golden streak had been….

Grabbing her battle-axe, she ran out of the door to Hiccup two-storeyed house, it's magnificent wooden dragon hull glinting in the sun. Running up to Hiccup's room, she flung open the door, careful not to make too much noise and wake up Comet in the room opposite. Hiccup was sleeping, too, snoring softly in a cute manner that made Astrid not want to wake him at all. She blushed sheepishly, shook off the feeling and went over to Hiccup's bed.

"Hey, Hiccup." She prodded him. Toothless, sleeping on the large rock bed on one side of the room, came over and nuzzled her hand, looking for fish.

"Hiccup. _Hiccup. HICCUP!"_ she shook him so hard he fell off the bed.

"Wha- Mom.. it's so early… I swear if it's –" his vision focused on the girl in front of him and he scrambled to get up from the floor. " _Astrid?_ Thor's Hammer, what are you doing here at like 6 in the morning…" He dozed off.

Astrid slapped him, trying to get him out of his daze. "You're not particularly a great chief if you can't wake up and defend the village!"

"Defend the village…." Hiccup rubbed his cheek, still in a sleep trance. "Ow… That hurt. But it won't work." He dropped like a sack onto the bed and began to snore.

"Well, if that didn't work, then this will." Astrid leaned over and kissed him.

His eyes bugged open and he shot up from the bed.

"Now, _GET UP!"_

Hiccup grinned like crazy, slipping on armour on top of his nightwear. "Lead me to this terror I must protect the village from, Milady."

And, as they mounted their dragons and took off for the cliffs, Astrid couldn't help smiling, too. Just a little bit.

-xxx-

"There!" she pointed. "There's a figure on that hill. I think I see… a dragon?"

"A rogue dragon rider! I wish I had brought my spyglass…" Hiccup said, squinting at the two things in the distance.

"I feel this person, whoever it is, is very powerful and can easily attack or run away _real_ fast if we attack while flying, so I decided that we prepare all we've got and then fly onto those rocks, hide, and then run out with our weapons and take them by surprise. We can hopefully capture them and take them back home with us." Astrid concluded, pulling out her battle-axe.

"Well, sure! Great idea." Hiccup said, taking out a sword Gobber had recently crafted for him.

They set down behind the rocks and creeped out towards the figure, who was wearing a hood and throwing things at a great speed into the distance. As soon as they reached a certain range, all of them would blast into flames like something had shot fire at them. Probably the dragon….

As soon as they were close enough, Astrid let out a guttural war-cry and leapt at the figure, Hiccup right behind her. The figure turned, shock and surprise on her (it was a girl, judging by her eyes) face for a moment, but then suddenly she pulled out a sword, disarming Astrid and a microsecond later, shot an arrow with her bow, pinning Hiccup to a tree by the collar, where he struggled helplessly.

The figure stepped over Astrid, looked closely and frowned. "Astrid?"

Astrid struggled in vain. "How do you know my name? Who _are_ you?

The figure pulled out her hood, revealing the very familiar face of…. Comet.

"COMET?" Astrid and Hiccup said simultaneously, their faces full of surprise.

"Yeah… Why? I was out here training Asterion and suddenly you two sprang out from behind me and..." She glanced over at Astrid's battle-axe, grabbed it and gave it back to Astrid, helping her to her feet. Then she ran over to Hiccup and pulled the arrow out, making him drop to the ground.

"I'm so sorry... I thought someone was attacking me…" she said nervously.

"Well, we _were_ attacking you. We thought you were a rogue dragon rider and _you_ were going to attack _us_ later." Astrid said sheepishly. Hiccup scratched the back of his head. He was relieved it had been only Comet.

"I'm done with my training, I was planning on heading back."

"Do you do training with Asterion everyday? Can I join?" Astrid asked.

"Sure!"

The two girls mounted their dragons and rode back to the village, leaving Hiccup in his own thoughts.

He leapt onto Toothless and soared after them, yelling, "Hey, wait for me!"

-xxx-

The dragon riders gathered in the academy. Facing them stood Comet's crew, and the three adults. Tan and Bron, however, were absent.

Hiccup frowned. "I still don't know what your dragons are trained to do. We'll be having fun for a while with you'll, but once you settle down you too will be part of defending Berk from invaders and enemies. Remember, there are people out there – people who want to kill our dragons, people who want to wipe out the dragon race, people who want to learn all our secrets and think they can conquer all the dragon's in the world. It is upto us and our dragons to defend us and whatever those people want."

"Spoken like a true chief, eh?" Gobber interrupted, folding his arms.

Hiccup ignored him. "So, I need to see how powerful your dragons are – what they can do, what their attacks are, what class they are and how they work, so that we can plan strategically and work as a team. Also, Faun, Fishlegs said you have trained Chestnut quite well? I'd like to see can go first."

Faun looked nervous, pushing up her glasses. She climbed onto the dragon and lifted up into the air.

"My test is not shooting at targets, but defending myself from weapons." She called. At the far end of the arena, Fishlegs had climbed up to the railings and was manning a triple shooter filled with nets, metal ball traps, spears and arrows.

"Ready… GO!" Fishlegs began shooting like crazy.

Faun flew forward and Chestnut launched into a forward roll. Soon she was spinning so fast, she looked like a 200-pound mass of spinning destruction. The spears rained down on her, but the rolling was so powerful the tips broke off and they fell harmlessly to the ground.

The arrows came so fast the riders could barely see them, but Cestnut, still rolling, suddenly blasted out five lava blasts that went straight at all the arrows and materialized them.

The dragon stopped rolling and flicked her tail like a circus master getting ready to use his whip on the animals. The metal traps flew at her, but she whipped her tail back and forth, slapping them out of the air like flies.

She then dropped to avoid a net and zipped up, barely missing another one. By now, she had almost reached Fishlegs. Suddenly, the Gronckle dropped like a sack of rocks towards the ground. The riders cringed, getting ready for her to hit the ground, but she stopped just before hitting the ground, hovered for a second and then shot back to the other side, out of range of the enemy. That's when the riders saw that in Chestnut's claws was Fishlegs, struggling helplessly. She had picked him up during the drop and then carried him away.

She climbed down from Chestnut, patting the dragon. "That was really good, girl."

The riders all oohed in appreciation. Iva smiled faintly and said something to her sister. Comet, grinning, put an arm round Faun and said, "So Hiccup, how was our first rider."

Hiccup looked satisfied, even a little awed. "That was impressive, Faun. It would take quite a while for an average rider to train a dragon to do what you accomplished in two days. You obviously are good with defence, have learned quite a bit about dragons and their abilities, have an extremely strong and hard-core dragon and have a sharp mind you put to use when in defence mode to plan out exactly what you have to do. In all, very good. You would make a fine defender for Berk."

"So, can Iva go next? I'm dying to see what _hot_ moves she got there. Get it? _Hot? Stoker Class Dragon? Pretty Girl?_ Eh? Eh?" Snotlout cracked up, snorting like a hog with a bad case of boar flu.

"I'm _certainly NOT_ going next. Not after what _he_ just said." Iva tripped Snotlout so he fell on his face, and then lifted her foot with a jerk, flipping him over her head like a Kung-Fu master.

"Then I guess - " Linus said. " – we're up!" Logan completed. Thunder and Lightning rose into the air.

Linus spread his arms like a magician, his dark eyes glinting mischievously. "Prepare to be amazed by our show, the Double L Thunder Show!"

Logan frowned, "I thought it was the Double L Lightning Show?"

Linus shook his head. "Nuh-uh. It's thunder!

"Lightning!"

"Thunder!"

With all the 'thunders' and 'lightnings', the dragon himself decided to take initiative. Jerking their heads up to straighten up their riders, the dragon rose up the top of the of the training academy, the two heads snapping, one of them beginning to release some kind of smoke and the other one sparking.

"Welcome, one and all, to the greatest trick flight ever done!" they chorused in unison and raised their hands.

The dragons began to spin, Thunder spraying the air with what looked like vaporous nimbus clouds that covered everything in dark smog. Suddenly, Lightning gnashed his teeth and BLAM! The whole place blew up like a Night Fury blast grenade. Except, it wasn't with the red hot fire Belch usually smoked out… It was burning white, like lightning. It _was_ lightning, like _fire-_ lightning. Hiccup realised that that's why their names were Thunder and Lightning – one brewed the storm clouds, and the other set 'em on lightning.

Once dark fog had cleared, most of them could still barely see. Hiccup's eyesight felt hazy, like someone had pushed him under a blanket of grey seawater. When he looked around, he couldn't see the twins anywhere. But he could hear their voices alright.

"Ooh, do we do the hoops thing now? No, we should do the target thing!"

"No, they wouldn't see that… let's do the shooting thing."

"That's the _same_ as the target thing."

"Oh… Then let's do it!"

Suddenly, the twins swooped past Hiccup on their dragon heads, howling like a pair of rabid wolves. They took a round of the entire arena, until random targets began popping up everywhere.

"Here goes – "

" – nothing!"

The two dragons linked heads, and white fire burned in their mouths (Hiccup later realised that Thunder and Lightning were working together as one, so what spewed out of their mouths was black smoke that had already been set on lightning.) A blast of lightning shot out of their mouths and it split into tendrils that all punctured straight through the centres of the targets, simultaneously taking them all down. This reminded Hiccup of the Skrill he had faced last year…

"Oh yeah!" Linus whooped, chest bumping Logan. Unfortunately, this distracted the dragons and the lightning shot out and seared a hole straight through Snotlout's helmet, and then vaporized the entire shield stack on the other corner of the place. Hiccup cringed, imagining his mother's disapproving face.

"Sorry!" Linus called.

"Make it up to them by doing the next awesome trick!" Logan yelled at him.

Hoops make of iron shot out of the hoop holes in the arena, lit on fire. They were all in one row, much too small for the twins to fit alongside their dragon.

Just as Thunder and Lightning reached the hoops, the two twins leaped up and held onto two makeshift zip lines Hiccup hadn't noticed before. They skidded down the rope, screaming, as the dragon expertly twirled through the hoops with ease. Thunder and Lightning landed on the ground, proudly looking down at the riders. Everyone was about to applaud, when there was a loud crash, and a crack. The twins had sailed headfirst into the stone wall and probably broken their face bones.

-xxx-

Comet sighed. They were supposed to create a good impression on Hiccup, and _this_ is what they gave him? Still, this was the best trick flying they could have done. The last time they tried, they had blown up three ships at the harbour and caused a Shellback (a giant sea-water dragon) to surface and eat half of the port. No one except Ruff and Tuff seemed impressed… especially not Hiccup. Ruffnut, however, was dancing around hysterically singing something about daisy fields, Logan, Linus and kisses.

She seems to have developed a strange case of Cupid's arrow.

Comet cringed, waiting for Hiccup's remarks. Apparently, he was used to dealing with troublemakers and not getting impatient, because he very thoughtfully said:

"Well, you may not have perfect ability and technique, but your tricks were pretty cool, and your dragons… _heads_ coordinate with each other very well. You would be handy with traps and confusing the enemy... maybe even defending through tricks and traps? Illusions, things like that. Attack would be pretty good too, just like the element of surprise, which you could be good at if.. uh.. _Astrid_ taught you some skill. Just try to not go overboard and light the entire place up, or hurt yourselves. And, for Thor's sake, don't disobey."

"You're putting me… with _them?"_ Astrid glared at Hiccup. "They could be as bad as the twins!"

Hiccup frowned thoughtfully. "Why, Astrid, you're right! The twins need practise too, so maybe you could teach them as well? Thanks!" he suggested brightly, giving her a dorky grin.

Astrid made a sound that was something like a mix between a hedgehog who had a hairball down his throat and a wild lion having a bad hair (mane?) day.

Before she could fully react, though, the door burst open and two figures lumbered inside. One was a tall blonde, with a long straight beard and hair, a permanently confused expression and a metal object on his head… was that a _bucket?_ The other was short and squat, with brown hair, a Viking helmet and a mass of frizzy brown hair as a beard.

They both looked extremely frightened. Hiccup ran over. "Bucket! Mulch! What happened?"

(Comet could not think of better names for the two.)

Mulch gasped out, "Hiccup! Thank Thor! That strange thing is happening… the storm. Two of our ships are caught in it, and are being attacked by… something! It's also doing something to our dragons… they're all going mad and blasting at the air. Help!"

Bucket nodded. "That's not all! The Auxiliary Team accidently angered several of our dragons… never seen them this angry, and some are flying off. I think we scared them… but now we've got no help from them."

Fishlegs said, "Uh… if they were angry, they're probably calling for help from other dragons… and I know where they're headed."

Hiccup nodded. "Me too…. Fishlegs, you, Iva and the twins are going to follow them, try to stop them or calm them down. The storm, or whatever that thing is, might not have any effect on them once they're further away from it. Faun, Astrid, Logan and Linus, you have to calm down the remaining dragons that are here, and defend the townpeople. Try not to die, or destroy everything. Lead them away if you can. Comet, Snotlout and I are going to check out the storm… and hopefully save the ships and the people on them."

Everyone immediately got onto their dragons and soared off. Comet launched into the air and followed Hiccup, excited for her new mission.


End file.
